Digimon Destinies
by EmpireC2
Summary: For many centuries the Digital World has been under the control of the evil Arismon and none of them can digivolve to defeat the tyrant. Not without turning into one of Arismon's puppets. All hope now lies with a group of kids who are the first humans in over a thousand years to enter the digital world. It'll be up to them to uncover the old ways of digivolution and their destiny
1. Prologue: Into the Ruins

**Author Notes: Digimon Destinies is a digimon series idea I created some time ago while drawing. I finally thought I'd give it a go in writing the story. To avoid any confusion, future humans and the digimon in this chapter are my own creations. I do not take credit for creating the digital world or any of the digimon from the series. I hope you enjoy.**

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Prologue: Into the Ruins

"Warrior's Crush!" From far behind, a pair of massive axes crashed into the ground and split the land into a massive crevasse. The force alone was quickly catching up with the intent of stopping them, but Shintomon refused to be stopped. Not after the distance they ran. The ninja digimon gracefully pounced as the ground crumbled beneath her and softly landed on a boulder to the side while the land continued to split apart in the route she had been running seconds ago.

"So much power..." A little voice whimpered in her arms. Shintomon looked down to the small, white dragon digimon she had been carrying this whole time. The creature was no bigger than a foot in length and had a small blue gem on its forehead. Kiramon was trembling in fear. Shintomon pitied the digimon, but she knew it could be worse. Especially if their pursuer caught up.

"We both know this is Arismon's doing. If we could only break his control." Shintomon glanced back at their pursuer - a massive grizzly bear-like digimon with an axe in each hand as if charged on its two feet. It was Ursamon. Normally they were valiant digimon, but by the red glow in his eyes Shintomon knew it was being possessed. A lot of digimon who were once good were now becoming victims. Arismon would somehow enable them to digivolve to a stronger state and then control them like puppets. It was why they continued to run.

Ursamon was drawing closer so Shintomon took that as their time to keep going. From the rock, she hopped over the crevasse and continued to sprint alongside the crack. The entire time her mind was trying to come up with a plan. A rookie like herself wouldn't stand a chance in combat direct. Even if she could become a champion level like Ursamon, Shintomon knew Ursamon was being fueled with Arismon's power. It would take an even higher level to defeat him. Unfortunately, the digimon tyrant was in control of all digivolution. "We'll have to outmaneuver Ursamon." Shintomon heard the familiar sound of the ground splitting once more and pounced back to the other side as the land broke apart again.

"He's making the crevasse bigger!" Kiramon exclaimed. Shintomon glanced to the place she had been standing moments and nodded. Apparently he was trying to keep them from outmaneuvering him.

"It'll take more than a crack to slow us. Look." Shintomon nodded her head to up ahead. It was a high cliff and easy to climb if you were agile. "We'll lose him there, but I'll need you to fly."

Kiramon still looked scared, but she nodded too. "I can do that," she said.

It was settled. Shintomon heard a third Warrior's Crush and this time sprinted straight ahead. She threw her arms up to toss Kiramon into the air and then leapt for the cliff. Shintomon grasped the rocky surface just as Ursamon's attack collided with it and shook the cliff violently. Shintomon held on and waited for the quake to finish before starting her ascend. Kiramon was nervously flying above her while looking down at her in concern. "Kiramon, fly!" Shintomon shouted. To Arismon, Shintomon was nothing more than a nuisance that was daring to oppose his command. She was not important. Kiramon was the reason they were running. Though they weren't sure what it was exactly, Arismon feared something possessed in the little dragon and Shintomon was determined to keep Kiramon safe.

While Kiramon heeded her warning and started flying to the top, Shintomon heard the bear digimon reach the base of the cliff and call out a new attack. "Nature's Claw!" The two axes joined together into a single weapon and struck the ground. The entire cliff began to shake harder, but all Shintomon noticed was a green light traveling through the cliff towards the dragon digimon.

"Kiramon!" Shintomon's shouts were all in futile as the light sprung from the cliff like a massive paw and knocked her out of the sky. Ursamon had sheathed its axes to the harness on its back and was preparing to catch the falling digimon for its master. "Oh no you don't." Shintomon released her grip on the cliff and aimed a hand towards the champion level digimon. "Zen Arrows!" Seven violet colour shruikens appeared out of thing air and shot towards Ursamon like a flurry of arrows. They hardly scraped the digimon, but it distracted him long enough for her to intercept Kiramon's fall and catch the digimon in her arms.

Shintomon prepared herself to run and avoid whatever Ursamon threw at them, but then she noticed the claws of green light retreating into the cliff. The entire ground began shaking. Her first thought was the attack was coming again, but then a glimpse at Ursamon's confused glance to the ground indicated something wasn't right. All around cracks appeared and the ground gave away in a chaotic crumble. Ursamon was the first to fall through and Shintomon followed suit with an unconscious Kiramon in her arms.

The landing was harder than she would have liked, but Shintomon was alive. She was lying on her back and staring up at the leaking light from where they had fallen. It had to have been at least twenty feet. A growl in pain caused her to sit up quickly, which she shortly regretted. Her entire body ached from the fall, but once the pain slightly subsided she looked over to see the growling coming from Ursamon. The digimon looked quite out of it, and judging by the rubble around it, he was not a threat at the moment.

"Sh-Shintomon?" Kiramon was starting to stir again before opening her big blue eyes. The digimon looked quite dazed, but in one piece too. "W-where are we?"

"I'm not entirely sure..." The digimon answered while beginning to get a look of the surroundings. From what the light revealed, it almost looked like an old tomb. The walls were made of large bricks with strange engravings running along the top and the base of the walls. "Maybe it is from the time of the Ancients?" Shintomon had heard stories of ancient digimon who would bond with an alien race to access immense powers. It was the Ancients and their allies who had first saved the digital world.

"Shintomon, look!" Kiramon pointed off towards on of the walls where a stone chair was set. Sitting in it was a jackal digimon.

Shintomon got up and approached the digimon cautiously, but it made no move to acknowledge their presence. "Who are you?" Shintomon called out. The digimon made no response. When they were only a foot away, she noticed the digimon's eyes were closed. Was the digimon asleep? Shintomon reached a hand out to try and awaken the digimon, but accidentally hit a chain. Shintomon took a step back to get a better look, but noticed the digimon was covered in multiple chains. All were binding it to the chair.

"I wonder what that is," Kiramon said while pointing towards the digimon's chest. Shintomon followed Kiramon's focus and was staring at a small device that was holding all the chains in place.

"I've never seen anything like it." Shintomon answered. Curiously, she approached again to examine it before a cry from Kiramon startled her. The blue gem on her forehead was glowing brightly as she gripped her head. "Kiramon?"

"It hurts!" Shintomon was confused of what to do, but then her attention was brought back to the device. It was starting to glow in the same light as Kiramon's gem until there was a burst of light. Shintomon was blinded as the room was bathed in the bright light and all she could hear was Kiramon in pain. Shintomon didn't know what to do except maybe get her and Kiramon out of there, but as she stepped back the light stopped. Kiramon's gem was no longer glowing, but she looked exhausted from the pain.

"Are you okay?"

Kiramon nodded weakly then silently pointed to the digimon's chest again. Shintomon looked over and blinked in surprise. The device and the chains had disappeared. What's more, the digimon who had been sleeping was staring back at them in puzzlement.

"You are not my servants." The digimon muttered.


	2. Episode 1: Humans!

Episode 1: Humans!

The clock was buzzing loudly next to Kami's ear in an effort to wake her up. Unfortunately, it was working. "Stupid clock," she groaned sleepily while her hand reached out from under the blankets to silence the beast of waking up. Kami had just completed her second year of junior high school, her clock shouldn't be waking her up in summer. "Must've forgot," Kami muttered with a yawn. Finally her hand found the right button and the clock fell silent. Kami felt ready to fall right back asleep, but she couldn't help but wonder how she forgot to turn her clock off. It wasn't like her to forget - even if she was beginning summer. It was a mystery that would have to be left for when she was awake.

Kami rolled over with her eyes still shut and began to wonder what she would do this summer. There was chores, of course, but she also wanted to make the best of it too, which probably meant she'd be spending time with her best friends Hiro and Payton. Kami was about to ponder more summer time ideas, but thinking of her friends made her remember why she had set her alarm, and she was sitting upright in a matter of seconds. "We were going to the park today!" Kami looked to the clock to the clock and saw it read 10:45. It was enough to make her bolt from her bed and rush to get dressed.

She was suppose to be awake nearly an hour ago. How could she have slept through it for so long? "Oh never mind." Kami muttered. She slipped into her shorts and t-shirt then went to her mirror for damage control. Her mid-length brown hair was fairly wild from her sleep so it took a few matches with the comb before it was somewhat public worthy. Well, it would have to do. Kami then slipped on a ball cap with goggles attached - one of Payton's random ideas she ended up sticking with - and dashed out of her room.

"I'm going to the park!" Kami called as she ran past the kitchen. Her mom looked like she was baking while her dad was trying to sneak some of the batter.

"Do you have your phone on you?" Kami heard her mom call back.

"Yes mom." She was slipping her running shoes.

"And your house key?"

"Yes yes. I'll talk to you later." Kami was out the door before the usual list of reminders could be finished. She was far too use to her mom's routine, and if she had stayed to listen to it all, Kami would have been more late. _The guys are already going to shoot me for being late_, she thought to herself while sprinting down the street. Kami could not believe she overslept! She never slept through her alarm before and the thing was loud enough it could wake someone out of a coma. It made no sense, yet all she could do was hurry.

Kami was soon making good time, considering her late start, and wasn't delayed again until she was stuck at the intersection by the park. A lot of walkers were stopped here while the traffic claimed the road, and received their turn shortly after. Only something was not right. The streetlights were flashing non-stop and jumping between red, green and yellow like christmas lights, and causing a series of horn blaring from angry drivers. The only thing keeping the intersection in order was a pair of police officers attempting to control the traffic again._ Just great... _Kami thought to herself. Why did the lights have to go faulty today? The park was in plain sight too.

After five, annoyingly long minutes, Kami was able to cross and ran the rest of the way. She passed through the gates and made her way to the grassy field where she saw two boys standing. "I'm here!" Kami called. "Sorry I'm late. I over-" Kami was close enough to see both looked equally as wiped as she did, "-slept. What were you two doing? Running a marathon?"

The boy to the left was the first to answer. "My phone has been malfunctioning all morning so the alarm didn't go off at all," Hiro said. Hiro was not the type to rush in the mornings, but Kami could see he was forced too judging by the hat covering his bed head. "The phones are down too so there was no way I could call. Apparently Payton was having the same problem."

Kami looked to the other boy, who was easily a foot taller than her and Hiro, as he nodded. However, he didn't look like a mess the way they did. His brown hair was its usual short and flattened look with not a strand of bed hair in sight. "Then why aren't you a mess like us then?" Kami asked while ignoring Hiro's small glare. Payton on the other hand was nervously scratching the back of his head.

"My mom woke me up early today because I promised weeks ago I would baby sit for my neighbour today, and completely forgot until today. I was going to text you guys, but by then all the electronics went haywire at home."

Kami sighed. Clearly none of them were having a good start to summer. "That does explain my alarm clock this morning," she remarked while pulling her phone out to see if it was functioning. However, like the streetlights, the screen was flashing madly. Numbers were scrolling across the screen like some sort of matrix and occasionally a 'D' would flash on the screen. "I wonder what could be causing this," she remarked while thinking of how disappointed her parents would be when they learned the oven is probably not working. Kami pocketed her phone with a slight shrug then looked back to her friends. "So did you get off the hook with babysitting then?" Kami asked.

"Not exactly." Payton answered. To save him time, Kami noticed Hiro pointing to one spot on the field. Her eyes trailed to the area and saw a little ten year old playing with Hiro's soccer ball. "Miki isn't too bad to watch, and with the electricity going crazy his mom thought the park would be good for him. You know, no video games so he might as well get fresh air. Two birds with one stone."

"I suppose so," Kami remarked while glancing at Miki. He was running around so much that all she could see was a blur of his blond hair moving across the field. She has seen Miki a few times when she would hang out with Payton, and Payton was right that he wasn't too bad to watch. The challenge was keeping him from wandering, which he hardly did if he was distracted. Though how long he would be distracted for, she did not know. "Might as well make the most of it."

"That's the spirit!" Payton said while waving to Miki to come over. Hiro was rolling his eyes to himself, but Kami knew he was okay with the younger addition. Otherwise he would not have leant Miki his ball in the first place. It was the standard stubborn tough guy act he liked to display when everyone knew he was much nicer than that.

Miki was over in an instant, and seeing the excitement on the kid's face made Kami smile in amusement. It wasn't too long ago that they were like him and so care free. With age they were all given bigger responsibilities and could only relax during their free time like right then. Even that had been cut short with their late start. "I guess we could do teams of two." Kami said while each of them agreed. In a matter of moments, they were soon running back and forth across the field, kicking the soccer ball.

It started with her and Hiro against Payton and Miki, then the teams rotated to her with Miki against the other two. For the most part, the matches were fairly close with her and Hiro just barely winning the first match, Payton and Hiro winning the second, and her and Payton winning the third game by four points the moment they joined forces. Out of the four, she and Payton played regularly and joined the school teams when it was soccer season. Hiro only enjoyed the small scrimmages and helping them practice. As for Miki, Kami was impressed that he was keeping up with them. The games continued into the next couple of hours, with the rotation cycle happening all over again. By the fifth game, they were all panting between their laughter and taking much longer half times. Poor Miki was finally wearing out, but none of them wanted to stop until white specks started falling from the sky.

"What's that?" Miki asked. He was staring up in awe at the falling specks then held out his hand to catch a few. When he went to examine the fleck, though, it was nothing more than a small drop of water. Kami remembered her first time experiencing it a long time ago... only it wasn't the right time of year.

"It hasn't snowed in years..." Payton muttered out loud. He too had the same confusion etched on his face as she did. The last time any snow fell in the city had to be when they were five or so, but it had been in late December.

"That's not all," Hiro's voice broke into the conversation while he pointed to the sky behind them. Kami turned around and her jaw dropped. The once blue sky was full of a wave of colours. It stretched about a kilometer wide and at its center there was blue lightning crackling.

"What is that?" Kami asked out loud. By the look on all of their faces, none of them knew.

"Maybe it is from a solar flare?" Payton suggested. "Like the northern lights, except it is more south and... stormy." Could this have been the cause of the electrical failures?

Before Kami could say anything, a loud beeping sound began emitting from her pocket. She pulled out her phone and saw the screen was going even more nuts than before. The screen was flickering madly as data scrolled across it, then beeped whenever a peculiar chain like image appeared. "What in the world?" Kami tried to slide it open, but the phone would not budge from its closed state. As she continued to fumble with hers, Kami noticed Hiro and Payton had their phones out too, and were having the same problem.

"How come it won't open?!"

"What's going on?"

Kami could have kicked herself as much as Hiro and Payton for being so distracted that she didn't notice a little device fall from the sky towards the curious ten year old who was entranced by it all. She only managed to look just as he enclosed his hands around it. "Miki, don't!" The device and the three cell phones erupted into a blinding light. Even with her eyes closed she thought it was too bright.

'_Digital Device's Digimon Link active!'_ The sound came from her phone, but it wasn't a regular voice. It sounded like a mixture of a male's voice and a computer to create an electronic tone. Then the phone morphed. Kami wanted to drop her phone, but it felt as if her grip was trapped around it until the metamorphoses ended and by that point she could feel herself being lifted off the ground.

The minutes that followed could only be described as being in a blinding tornado. Kami tried to open her eyes a few times, but the light was too intense to keep them open and was left to float, fly, or be blown to wherever she was going. Then it stopped.

Kami landed with a thud on a hard surface and opened her eyes to a dark room with the only light coming from a hole above. "Oww," she groaned while weakly sitting up. Not far from her, Hiro, Payton and Miki were getting up too and looking at one another in confusion. "Are you guys okay?" Kami asked.

"I think so." Hiro responded while rubbing the back of his head. "Anyone have any idea what just happened?"

Kami shook her. "I wish I knew."

"Uhh guys...we're not alone." Payton broke in. Kami turned around and jumped. Three creatures were staring at them. One looked something like a ninja, the next was a tiny white dragon, and the third was an egyptian jackal. All three were staring at them with puzzled expressions, though Kami thought she could feel the jackal's gaze burrowing into her.

"What do you think they are?" the dragon asked.

"They are humans, of course." The jackal answered bluntly while the two other creatures looked at him in shock. "But the last ones to ever be heard of were centuries before Arismon. I thought our worlds were separated."


	3. Episode 2: Pharaohmon VS Ursamon

**Author Note: Thank you to those who have been reading my story so far. It is very much appreciated and it encourages me to continue writing this Digimon adventure. I did my best to add more description of what my digimon look like. I am going to add a link to my profile page with character designs that will appear over the course of the story. Like the story, though, it will come one at a time. Thanks again!**

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Episode 2: Pharaohmon VS Ursamon

The silence that filled the dark ruins was eerie, but no one seemed to know of what to make of the situation. The ninja and dragon creature were looking confused from the jackal's response while everyone else was recovering from the shock of showing up there. Kami was still so stunned that she couldn't even take the moment to freak over that animals were talking - if they could be called animals. The dragon looked like any regular dragon from books, minus the gigantic size. The jackal's paws were covered by golden gauntlets and his feet had a similar gold covering them to give an overall Egyptian feel. As for the ninja, Kami couldn't tell whether it was human or not. It was human in shape, but she couldn't see the face. Beneath the ninja's hood there was nothing more than a maroon and violet mask to conceal everything but the eyes. What the heck were they? Kami looked to the other three, and they had the same confusion etched across their faces. Thankfully, the silence was broken moments later as the creatures expressed their own confusion amongst themselves.

"What are humans?" the dragon asked. She started to flap her wings and curiously flew towards Miki. "They are very strange looking if you ask me," she remarked.

Miki, being as curious as ever, laughed at the little dragon. "You're the one who is strange looking," he said. Hearing Miki speak made the dragon flap backwards in fear. In a flash, the ninja was standing threateningly between the dragon and Miki until Payton got up and placed himself between the creature and Miki.

"Keep back!" Payton warned with a glare.

"Watch who you challenge, human. Come near Kiramon and I'll bury you into the walls." Neither Payton nor the ninja would back down, but as it continued, Kami could see the dragon called Kiramon continuing to look at Miki. Almost in adoration. Miki was returning the same look.

"We better intervene." Hiro remarked. He was standing, and leaving her to be the only still on the ground. So she quickly stood too while nodding.

"I don't think they mean harm," she answered.

"We are not harmful," the jackal interrupted while walking over to the ninja and dragged her from her post a good foot before he had to dodge a series of attacks from the ninja. "Well, these impostor servants shouldn't be."

"Oh for mon's sake, not this again!" the ninja ceased her attacks and raised her arms in exasperation. "I told you we are not impostors coming to take your kingdom. We were running from Arismon's soldier and fell down here, where we found your buried butt chained to the throne!"

"Humph!" the jackal growled. "My soldiers had defeated the last of his militia before my confrontation with him. There is no way he has more soldiers by now."

Kami watched the quarrel go back and fourth when it was useless to follow. She was still trying to sort out the present situation and didn't need to deal with some pointless argument they were sorting out on their own. "Excuse me, if you're not harmful, then what exactly are you and could you tell us where in the world we are right now?"

The jackal looked towards her with that gaze again. He looked like his mind was contemplating something extremely serious, and it made her nervousness grow. Why couldn't she have the dragon staring at her instead? At least she seemed friendlier. Kami glanced over to Miki and the dragon, who seemed to conquer Payton's defenses and was now happily playing with Miki. "We are digital monsters- the jackal cut in. "However, we prefer the term digimon for short. My name is Anumon. I am the ruler of the western kingdom in the digital world that you are now in.

"The digital what?" Kami, Payton and Hiro's voices were in perfect unison. Miki was busy tickling the dragon.

"Digital World," the ninja answered. Her arms were folded across her chest. "However, there is no such thing as the western kingdom or any kind of kingdom in these parts. It is all under Arismon's power, which someone cannot seem to grasp." The ninja fired a glare at Anumon. "I am Shintomon. I look over Kiramon." She briefly gestured to the playing dragon then approached them. Shintomon stopped in front of Hiro and was almost examining the way Anumon had been gazing at Kami a moment ago. "According to his royal highness, you are a human, but why does it feel like you are different from other humans?"

Hiro blinked. For the most part, he was good at keeping his cool, but in that moment he was nervously scratching the back of his head. "Well...um... my name is Hiro. All of our names are different, though. I am like any other human." He had no idea how to respond to the question.

"You are probably his partner, Shintomon." Anumon responded. "Every digimon has a human partner that enables digivolution even when they are in separate worlds. It is written into your data to know who that human is when you see them. It's like Kiramon with the little human and myself with that human," he explained. The claw on his gauntlet was pointing towards Kami, and now it was her turn to blink.

"Partner?" Kami looked to Hiro, but he was only shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't following this either. By the looks of it, Shintomon wasn't either.

"Where do you get all this nonsense from? You act like you know what is going on, yet you're delusional enough to think this is a kingdom. Do you know or are you just insane from all the dust?"

Anumon barked in annoyance. "I do know!" He looked ready to strike at Shintomon, but before they could engage into battle a menacing roar rumbled through the room. Everyone stood still even Miki and Kiramon stopped playing.

"What was that?" Miki asked. Kiramon was perched on top of his head, looking in the direction it had come from then quickly retreated into her partner's arms.

"Ursamon is awake!" she whimpered.

"What is Ursamon?" Kami asked. If it was a digimon like the three before them, then shouldn't it be harmless? This time it wasn't Anumon who answered.

"It is the soldier Kiramon and I had been running from." Shintomon responded with her eyes focused on the area Ursamon had last been seen. Debris was gradually moving away and patches of brown could be seen emerging. "He is very dangerous."

"What level is this Ursamon?" Anumon asked.

"Champion, but even a Champion level would have a hard time against him."

"We will see about that."

The jackal digimon stepped towards the debris and watched the rest of the digimon emerge. Kami stepped back in fear. Ursamon was the equivalent to a massive grizzly bear except he was carrying two battle axes. Two things that should never be combined. However, Anumon did not seem intimidated in the slightest. The digimon was glaring at the champion level digimon. "Ursamon, you are trespassing in my kingdom! Allies of Arismon are not welcome here!"

Shintomon smacked her mask where a forehead would be while Ursamon stood onto his hind legs and entered a battle stance. He greatly towered over the little jackal, but Anumon entered his own battle stance as well. "You have been warned." Anumon remarked. "Digimon Link activate! Digivolve into champion!"

Kami wasn't sure what to expect. By the looks of it, no one else was sure what to expect either. For herself, Hiro, Payton and Miki, everything he said sounded like gibberish. Meanwhile, Shintomon and Kiramon's eyes widened at his words almost in disbelief. The one thing she did not anticipate, though, was Anumon continuing to stand there and get swatted across the room by one of Ursamon's axes.

"Are you insane?!" Shintomon bellowed at the jackal digimon. "Arismon controls all digivolution. You can't digivolve!"

Anumon was slowly getting up as he rubbed the back of his head. He clearly looked confused by what had just happened, but now was not the time to decipher the latest mystery. Ursamon was turning his attention towards Kiramon and Miki, and preparing his axes. "Howling rush!" Anumon became surrounded in a torrent of howling winds and rocketed towards the digimon. He collided with Ursamon's right wrist and knocked an axe from the digimon's hands. Anumon was starting his descent to the ground, but quickly twisted his body so he was facing the digimon as his feet touched the ground. "Sand Blaster!" A tornado of sand formed from the ground and struck Ursamon in the eyes to temporarily blind him.

"Go now!" Anumon commanded as he made a dash for one of the hallways. Kami did not need telling twice and quickly glanced at the others to make sure they were running too before following suit. As they ran Anumon was back to talking with Shintomon while firing Kami the occasional glare. "How can Arismon control digivolution? I've always been able to digivolve. I did so when I last battled him, and that was when my human partner didn't exist in this world."

"I have no idea. No one has been able to freely digivolve in centuries. At least, not since Arismon took over."

Anumon's eyes widened. "How long has he been ruling for?" Another roar bellowed until the hallway was rumbling. Anumon quickly dashed forward and stopped at the entrance to another room. "In here!" This room was twice the size of the previous room, but it looked like a dead end.

"There is no way out of here." Shintomon glared. "Are you trying to hand Kiramon over to him?"

"No." Anumon pointed towards the ceiling to reveal a series of roots. "This is the courtyard...or at least was. Your friend could fly out of here if we break them, but it would be hard to get the humans out of here too until Ursamon is defeated. Even if I cannot digivolve I shall fight him. You can guard the humans, while Kiramon gets out of here."

"No." Kiramon returned to her place on Miki's head where she was shaking hers. "Shintomon, help Anumon fight. I can protect everyone else. There is no way I will leave Miki."

"We can keep Kiramon safe too!" Miki piped up. Everyone glanced at one another for a moment then nodded in unison. Everyone headed towards the back of the courtyard, leaving Shintomon and Anumon to battle the digimon.

"Are you sure about this?" Hiro asked. Kami glanced over at him to realize he was addressing her. "I mean, should we be leaving Shintomon and Anumon to fight Ursamon? According to them, they are our partners. Shouldn't we be helping them?"

"I'm not sure. We still don't really know them, but then again, look at Miki and his supposed partner." The two looked inseparable in a way that wasn't simple friends or new playmates. They were partners. "What could we do though? We aren't exactly fighters."

"I do not know... Any ideas Payton?" Hiro turned to the one guy who wasn't in the conflict of having a strange creature claiming to be his companion, and was instead too stressing over Miki's safety. This was no ordinary babysitting job.

"To be honest, I have no clue either," he answered rather bluntly. "Together, the two may be able to take on the Ursamon guy, but we also can't keep our guard down either by sitting down and having a snooze. Anything can happen and we need to be ready to react."

Kami nodded and quietly bit down on her lips to watch as Ursamon barged into the room and the two smaller digimon engaged him in combat. Shintomon and Anumon were unleashing an arsenal of attacks on the bear digimon that only seemed to irritate him as the battle progressed. The blows weren't doing much damage and only seemed to prevent Ursamon from progressing forward rather than weakening him. In comparison, Ursamon's blows sent them flying into the walls as easily as he had done so in the previous room. They were losing.

"We have to get out of here." Payton announced while Kami continued to stare on. His words went over her as she watched Anumon get hit by giant green claws and collide into the wall again. Shintomon had already took over Anumon's position and was throwing little ninja stars are the larger digimon. It lasted for about a second before she was struck by the side of the axe. From the corner of her eyes, she thought she could see Hiro flinching, but Kami was too distracted by the jackal digimon trying to rise again and weakly limping to stand in front of his opponent again. Partner or not, she could not watch this anymore, and ran towards the fight.

Somewhere far behind she could hear Payton and Hiro calling her name, but her attention was focused on what was ahead of her. Kami ran towards Anumon and grabbed his arm to pull him back, which almost resulted in her hand being sliced off before he realized who it was. "Are you stupid?" he asked in clear disbelief. "It's dangerous here!"

"You have no strength to fight anymore. Both you and Shintomon are going to get yourselves killed if you keep trying to fight him. Then you protecting your friend would have all been in vain."

"You have things mixed up, human. Protecting Kiramon is Shintomon's wish. I am fighting to protect my kingdom. This is my home and Arismon has trespassed upon it. I forbid it. Now get out of here before you get yourself killed." Anumon pulled his arm free and continued towards Ursamon, who was now halfway across the room. Kami glared and stepped in front of Anumon. "Get out of my way," he growled.

"No. If you haven't noticed yet, your home is destroyed and abandoned. It's in ruins, and I've only noticed that in the few minutes I have been in this world. Even if you want to make things better, the only way you will do that is if you leave right now and return another day. This Arismon guy you keep talking about will walk all over your home if you are dead." Kami said in a raised voice. The digimon was glaring furiously at her, but she was mirroring the same gaze until Anumon's switched to panic. Ursamon had reached them.

"Human, go!" The urgency in Anumon's voice almost sounded desperate, but Kami knew she could not walk away now.

"Not unless you leave too." She watched the smaller digimon as he seemed to struggle over something inside of himself to the point he could hardly concentrate on the Ursamon before them to even notice the axe swinging towards them. Kami grabbed Anumon and pulled them both to the ground as an axe swung past their heads, and then she was hurrying to her feet when the electronic beeping sound from her phone returned.

"Warrior's Crush!" Ursamon bellowed. The entire ground began ripping apart where they stood and Kami pulled out her phone to find it didn't look like it anymore. It was a touch screen of sorts with orange and blue grips on the ends, and had a flashing D on the screen. The entire device was flashing. Kami was interrupted by Anumon shoving her towards a patch of solid ground while he was left jumping from tile to tile to find a stable one. Meanwhile, Ursamon looked like he was readying a second attack.

"Anumon!" The flashing of her device sent a beam of light towards the little digimon and he became surrounded in a sphere of white chains. The last thing she saw of Anumon's expression was surprise before he was consumed in the light. Kami looked to the device's screen and it now displayed a series of gauges. "What's going on?!" The light and chains vanished moments later and a different creature was standing in Anumon's place.

"This is more like it," the creature said. Like Anumon, it was a jackal, but this one was easily six feet and closer to Ursamon's height. The jackal was wearing a blue and white head piece, a white loin cloth around it's waist, and menacing golden gauntlets with large blades emitting from them.

"Anumon?"

The digimon turned towards her and gave a small grin. "It's Pharaohmon now," he answered, and turned towards the Ursamon. "I can handle him this time. Get everyone out of here while I finish this." Pharaohmon then charged the Ursamon and rammed him into a wall. "Desert Tomb!" Sand erupted from all directions and began to trap Ursamon into pillars shaped by the sand. This was their cue to escape.

Kami waited for the others to arrive, with Hiro assisting an injured Shintomon taking up the rear, before continuing. "Please don't do anything that stupid again, Kami," Hiro muttered while Kami offered to help move the digimon too.

"Frankly I don't want to." Kami answered. She slung Shintomon's other arm over her shoulder and slowly began to walk with the two at a steady pace amongst the chaos. "Shintomon, what exactly happened to Anumon? Or Pharaohmon, I guess?"

"He digivolved. I don't know how, but you somehow how made him bypass the control Arismon has over the digital world to enter his champion level." Shintomon answered. "I never thought I would see the day that a digimon freely evolves."

"I think it was my phone that did it." With her free hand, Kami held out the device that use to be her phone. "It changed when we were on our way here but I didn't really notice it until now when it had begun acting up.

"I've seen something similar before." Shintomon answered. "When Kiramon found Anumon, he had one of those with him. However, the scent on yours isn't the same. There must be multiple devices around."

"Like this?" Hiro's hand had been in his pocket and he pulled out a device too. Only his was red and green, and the screen still displayed the D on it. "I think my phone had changed too when I came here."

"It's definitely the same type of device, but its scent isn't the same either." This was all becoming too bizarre, Kami concluded, and that wasn't even including everything from the past thirty minutes.

"Guys, quit talking and hurry up! We gotta split right now!" Payton called from up ahead. Him, Miki and Kiramon were already by the doorway again. Meanwhile, Ursamon broke free from the pillars and threw Pharaohmon towards the broken floor. Pharaohmon managed to catch himself on a ledge before he could completely fall, but Ursamon was already charging towards Payton's group to finish his objective quickly.

"We got to move!" Shintomon said and tried to pick up her pace, but she still looked like she was in no condition to fight the digimon. Meanwhile, Payton got Miki and Kiramon through the doorway and then turned around to face the digimon.

"Payton!" Kami could have cursed him, but she knew it would not make him move. His stubbornness was worse than hers when he had a responsibility. He wasn't going to let the digimon near Miki. Frantically, she looked over to Pharaohmon, who was back on his feet and making a run towards the doorway too, but there was no way he could make it in time. Ursamon reached the doorway and readied to strike with his axe until he stopped mid swing.

Payton looked like he was still awaiting the harsh impact of the digimon's axe, but Ursamon couldn't do it. The digimon dropped both of his weapons and stepped back while clutching his head. Black chains began to appear around the creature and were pulling at the digimon to grab the axes again, but it was clear he was fighting back.

"Pharaohmon, destroy the chains! Quick!" This time it was Shintomon yelling as she released herself from Kami and Hiro's support to summon ninja stars and fire them at the black chains. One by one the black chains disintegrated as they were struck by Shintomon's stars and Pharaohmon's blades. When the final chain was destroyed, Ursamon was consumed in a white light and began to shrink. When the light faded away, there was a small bear digimon collapsed on the ground. He had the same brown fur as Ursamon, but rather than weapons, the bear wore a small head band with two feathers sticking out at the side.

"What just happened?" Payton piped up.

"Arismon uses the black chains to control digimon." Shintomon explained. She was gradually walking over with her eyes on the bear digimon. "The only time you can free a digimon is when their chains are destroyed. Then they will return to their prior form."

"Ursamon's chains only appeared because of the data that makes up his existence." Pharaohmon was looking at the small digimon too before turning his gaze to Payton. "A digimon is meant to protect their partner no matter what, which means they cannot attack you either. Ursamon, who is now the digimon you see before you, is your partner."


	4. Episode 3: Arrival of the Samurai

**Author Notes: My apologies for taking so long to update. The past few weeks have been busy with work and this episode turned out much longer than I anticipated. I continue to appreciate readers and any comments to improve the story.**

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Episode 3: Arrival of the Samurai

This was all becoming too much for Hiro. Between the weird light show, these creatures claiming to be their partners, and watching them suddenly transform out of the blue, it was all unbelievable. On top of that, they weren't even on Earth anymore. The strange chaos was about to send Hiro crazy with wondering whether this was all some bizarre dream, but deep down he knew everything before him was real. The ruins, the mutated phones, and the digimon. He turned away from the awkward union between Payton and his partner digimon, and walked over to where Shintomon was standing. At first it looked like she was watching to see if the bear digimon would go berserk at any moment, but the moment he approached, Shintomon looked towards him.

"You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?" Shintomon asked.

Hiro shook his head. "I'm just confused with everything going on. I have no idea where this digital world is to even try to get home, and the whole partner thing isn't making sense either."

"I am just as confused as you are," she remarked. "I have never seen or heard of a human before, but according to the delusional canine over there, every digimon is partnered with one and I believe he is telling the truth about that. You may not notice it, but I sense a link between us rather than with any of your human companions. If that is the partnership, then I believe we are partners. Whatever the case, the presence of humans gives me hope."

"Hope?" Hiro asked. "If you haven't noticed, we can't exactly fight the way you guys can or transform for that matter. We're stuck the way we are."

"That may be, but look at what two of your friends already did since coming here." Shintomon pointed towards the little bear digimon and the large jackal digimon. "Apparently long ago we could digivolve into our champion forms at will, but since Arismon has taken over the digital world, none of us can do that unless we are enslaved. Your friend made their partner digivolve to their champion form and the other revealed the black chains binding Ursamon. No digimon has been able to do that so easily. You four may be the ones to give us a fighting chance to stand up to Arismon."

"You do realize we are still only kids, right?" Hiro commented. "The more I hear about this Arismon guy, the more I think this is something adults like the police or military should deal with. Kami, Payton and I are way too young to handle something like this, and Miki is even younger!"

"However, it was you four who appeared before us. It means a lot to us digimon that we have been given a chance for freedom. I wish for that more than anything."

Hiro looked at the digimon in silence. Shintomon's words were honest and sincere. She truly believed that with them in their world, they could stand up to Arismon, which meant she believed they were genuine partners as well. Hiro didn't know what he believed in. Sure, it was a serious shame about the state of this world, but there were places back home dealing with similar circumstances that even adults couldn't resolve. How could kids help this world? Hiro felt confused a decided to return his attention to the others.

The bear digimon was coming around and glancing around in a mixture of terror and confusion. However, his eyes always seemed to return to looking at Payton. Hiro could easily sympathize with the digimon's confusion considering he felt that way when they were dropped into this world. However, he was still getting past the fact the digimon almost crushed them as Ursamon. By the looks of it, Payton was too.

"You guys are sure he is safe, right?" Payton asked.

Pharaohmon nodded. "Yes, human. I know very well when a digimon is possessed by Arismon or not. If he could not be restored, he would have turned to data rather than de-digivolve." The jackal digimon lowered himself to one knee and looked down at the little bear digimon. "I am Pharaohmon for the moment. Once I de-digivolve, you can call me Anumon. What is your name?"

"I'm Cubmon," the digimon answered. His brown paws were rubbing his temples as if he had a headache, but by the expression on his face, the digimon looked like he was waking up from a terrible nightmare. "It was so terrible...I can't believe the things I did. I hurt so many digimon!" Hiro bit his lips at the sight of the digimon. He couldn't imagine what Cubmon was going through if he was able to remember what he had done as Ursamon.

"Arismon is a curse." Hiro heard Shintomon mutter quietly to herself and couldn't help but nod in agreement. It was one thing to control a person, but to make them aware of their actions while controlling them...it was terrible. Hiro left Shintomon's side and walked over to Payton to give him a kick in the side.

"Hey, man, what was that for?" Payton muttered while rubbing his side. Hiro merely pointed towards Cubmon.

"He's your partner, help him out."

"I only just met him! I don't know what I could do..." Payton looked towards Cubmon. It was clear he felt bad for the digimon too, but he was also confused about what to do. It was no different to Hiro and Kami wanting to help Shintomon and Anumon earlier.

"Look, if Kami was able to nearly take an axe to the head to help her partner, I am sure you can help this guy. Just talk to him." Hiro remarked. "Besides, you were ready to take two axes to the head to help Miki. This should be a walk in the park." Hiro ignored Payton's glare and nudged his friend to approach the bear digimon.

"Um...hi Cubmon. My name is Payton." Payton was awkwardly scratching the back of his head while Cubmon looked up at him with full attentiveness. "Anyway, you shouldn't let the past bother you. I mean, sure you can feel upset that digimon were hurt, but it wasn't your fault. If the Arismon guy was the one controlling you, he is the one who was hurting them. You had no choice in causing harm."

Hiro smacked his forehead. How was it that Payton was such a caring person, but said the worse things in the worst way imaginable? He was contemplating standing in, but he felt a hand on his shoulder to stop him. It was Kami. She made a gesture to stay quiet and pointed to Cubmon. When Hiro looked, he noticed the digimon didn't look like he was in pain at that moment. He was entranced by Payton.

"You're not a digimon are you?" Cubmon asked. "Yet you broke Arismon's control."

"No, I am not a digimon. I'm a human like my friends. We sort of landed here out of the blue."

"What's a human?"

"Um..." Payton looked towards Hiro's direction for some sort of assistance, but all he could provide was an apologetic shrug. How did someone describe what a human was, anyway? Payton was on his own for this one. "Humans are what Miki, Kami, Hiro, and myself are," he explained while pointing to each respective person. "We are people with different names and appearances the way digimon like yourself have different names and appearances. No two are the same, if that makes a little sense."

Cubmon shook his head. "Nope it doesn't make sense," the little bear answered while Payton lowered his head in defeat.

"If it is any consolation, it didn't make much sense to me either." Shintomon added. "Quite a few digimon are very much identical. In the Ice Valley I've seen countless flocks of Penguinmon, and the few times I've ran into Arismon's troops, there are usually two or three Vilemon among them to command the group. Those are only examples, though. There are thousands of digimon in the digital world."

"So you are really just different species of digimon." Kami remarked. "It's like the different species of animals back home. There still must be some traits to distinguish digimon from one another, though, even if you are the same as another."

"That would be our past, present, and future." Pharaohmon answered, and then turned his attention back to Cubmon. "Like the human has said, your actions were not your fault and are a part of the past now. You do not need to understand entirely at this point what a human is, but they have been a part of digimon history for a long time, and this human before you is your destined partner. It is thanks to him that you are free."

"Free..." Cubmon turned away from the jackal digimon and stared at Payton. "You are called Payton, right?" Hiro watched Payton give a slow nod while rather uncertain of why the digimon asked, but then the bear digimon wrapped his furry arms around his partners legs since he was too short to hug any higher, and sent Payton tumbling to the ground. "Thank you, partner Payton!"

"Uh any time, Cubmon." The help expression was back on Payton's face, but no one made a move to help their friend. Hiro knew he would be fine with the little digimon now, and watched the scene in amusement until he noticed the jackal digimon looking at the damage in the room. Hiro's first thought was Pharaohmon was upset by the state of his place, but then the digimon's eyes began looking around at the undamaged areas.

"Shintomon, you said digimon can no longer digivolve?"

"That is correct," the ninja digimon answered. "With age, we can reach our next level. It took me years to digivolve from Torimon to become a rookie level, but I have never seen a digimon past their Champion level without being controlled by Arismon. The instantaneous digivolution you had pulled off has only been done when Arismon permits it."

"It is extremely difficult to go beyond the champion level even if there is no restriction." Pharaohmon commented. "My champion level is the highest I have ever reached, and I was always able to digivolve at will as long as I had the strength. Until that moment it failed."

"What is the point you are trying to make, then?" Shintomon asked.

"That digivolution hasn't been working for years." Despite wearing a mask, Shintomon was looking at Pharaohmon as if he was pointing out the obvious. However, Pharaohmon wasn't done either. "How long has Arismon been in control for?"

"About 600 years. Why?"

Pharaohmon's ears twitched as he gave a small growl in frustration. For the moment, he seemed like his stubborn and rash previous form versus the present, much wiser, form as he sliced at the ground with one of his blades. "I was there when Arismon began building forces, and attacked the four kingdoms. The southern kingdom was the first to fall before he came here to do battle. The last thing I remember before waking up in these ruins was losing to Arismon in combat. Arismon had won the war."

"So that means you've been sleeping down here for 600 years." Kiramon commented from a top of Miki's head. "That explains a bit, but if you were defeated, why weren't you turned to data? You should have been reborn at least ten times if you quit picking fights."

"Unless the device like the ones our partners are carrying had something to do with it." Shintomon added. Pharaohmon quickly turned to Shintomon with a questioning expression, but she only pointed towards Hiro and the other humans. Hiro knew what she was talking about and pulled out the device that had once been his phone to show the jackal digimon. Beside him, Kami did the same, and Payton followed suit and revealed a purple and grey device. Pharaohmon looked at each one with a sudden intensity.

"Those are the digivices," he muttered. "They look different from the one I saw a long time ago, but I was told they have the power to change in appearance."

"These had been our phones back on Earth, but they transformed on our way here." Kami explained.

"They look like the one that fell from the sky." Miki added while holding a yellow and pink device in his hand. Unlike with the previous devices, Shintomon and Pharaohmon looked at it in surprise.

"That is the one I saw!" Both exclaimed in unison. Poor Miki jumped back at the sudden reaction, and sent Kiramon tumbling off his head. Hiro began glancing between the digimon and digivice before looking at Shintomon.

"That's the digivice you were talking about?" he asked.

Shintomon nodded. "The appearance is different, but the scent is the same. It was with you when we found you, Pharaohmon. Then when Kiramon touched it, something happened and it disappeared."

"It then reappeared in our world when our phones went haywire, and then we ended up here." Hiro finished.

"These events are extremely peculiar." Pharaohmon muttered. "I've only seen that digivice once and it was some time before Arismon attacked my kingdom. Everything happening is not a coincidence and I have a feeling things will become more bizarre as time progresses." Pharaohmon was starting to walk a little ways from the group while eyeing parts of the ceiling.

"What do you mean as time progresses?" Shintomon asked. She was starting to approach the jackal digimon before he began another Desert Tomb attack to create four, small sand pillars in a square formation. "What in the digital world are you doing?"

"A history lesson apparently," he answered while facing the group. "I was always told the reason digimon could perform instantaneous digivolution without a human present was because they still held a connection that bound them between the two worlds. In the digital world, there were four points, one within each kingdom, that linked it to the human world, and enabled this connection between humans and digimon. If these points were harmed," Pharaohmon struck one pillar and then the next three one by one, "the connection was lost. By defeating the four kingdoms, Arismon had gained access to these points and put a stop to digivolution." Pharaohmon explained. "The digivice is an ancient technology used by humans to enable their partners to digivolve before these points had been constructed. Once the worlds were connected, though, there was no use for them any more and they disappeared."

"So the appearance of these devices and our partners means we can all digivolve?" Shintomon asked.

Pharaohmon nodded. "Unless humans have appeared elsewhere with digivices, you, Cubmon, Kiramon, and myself are the only ones who can," he answered. "Otherwise, for all the digimon to be able to freely digivolve again, we will need to restore the damaged points."

"This could be our chance to fight back." Shintomon responded. Hiro noticed a slight change in the digimon's voice. Joy. This was her chance at having her wish come true, and he couldn't help but be happy for Shintomon.

"The points are also the best chance for the humans to return home."

"I will help with the digivice any way I can." Hiro added. His partner turned so they were face to face, and Shintomon gave an honouring bow.

"Thank you so much."

"We'll help too." Kami said. "Right, Payton?"

Payton had finally freed himself from Cubmon's bear hug and nodded too. "We don't exactly know how to return home yet so we might as well help out. Besides, I don't like what this Arismon has been doing. He needs to be stopped."

"Let's kick his butt!" Miki cheered.

"Before we face Arismon head on, I wish to examine the point my kingdom guarded." Pharaohmon replied. "It could tell us a lot about what Arismon can do, and if it is repairable, then so will the other points. We'll need to leave these ruins to get there."

"Leave that to me." Kiramon answered. The little dragon digimon quickly flapped her wings and flew towards the ceiling of vines. "Spit Fire!" Kiramon inhaled deeply then unleashed a few short blasts of blue fire. Vines that were hit by the flames began breaking apart until Kiramon was able to pull out one long vine. She dropped that down to where the others were and then returned her attention to the ceiling. "Gust Strike!" Kiramon surrounded herself in a torrent of wind and rammed the ceiling. The first time it looked like it had hardly done anything, but with each attack light started leaking into the room until there was a hole large enough for a person to crawl through. Once her deed was done, Kiramon wearily descended and settled on Miki's head. "That was one tough ceiling," she panted. "Now I'm hungry."

"I'm sure we'll find some food up there." Miki said assuringly. "I'm getting hungry too." Now that he thought about it, Hiro realized none of them had eaten since breakfast and with all the running, he was starting to feel hungry too. He hoped they would find food soon.

"Let's get climbing then." Hiro instructed. In case of any danger up top, Pharaohmon climbed first and just barely made it through the hole with his size. Kami went next, and then Miki, Payton, Cubmon. Kiramon flew through the top with ease, and then it was Hiro's turn.

"I'll be right behind you." Shintomon assured him once he was a few feet off the ground. Whether she was behind him or not, Hiro felt tense while climbing the vine. The vines had to be centuries old by now, and the higher he climbed, the more painful the image of falling became. _Just keep climbing_, he silently told himself. Now was not the time to be dealing with a fear of heights. Hiro mentally relayed the message to himself throughout his ascension until he was greeted to the light of the surface.

Everything was so bright in comparison to the ruins that he remained clinging to the ledge while his eyes adjusted, but then Payton came along and pulled him out of the hole so Shintomon could come through. "Thanks, Payton." Hiro said while rubbing his eyes again. "Why are your hands all sticky?" He looked from his friend's hands to his jacket, which now had sticky hand prints on the sleeves.

"That would be thanks to Cubmon. Apparently he has this attack that makes food so we were sort of sitting around and snacking while you climbed. You were taking a long time."

"Gee thanks." Hiro looked around at the group and noticed everyone was snacking on honey. Pharaohmon was back to Anumon and somehow holding a bubble of the sweet substance with his claws while everyone else used their hands. The only ones who didn't seem to be eating were himself and Shintomon, who was pulling herself out of the hole.

"In fact, the attack creates a healing property for basic injuries." Cubmon quietly corrected. "However, thanks to its honey form it can relieve mild hunger. It's very handy for digimon because without food, we cannot fight. Would you like some?"

It looked like everyone else was enjoying the honey so Hiro gave a quick nod. "Yes, please."

"Alright. Honey Charm!" Cubmon clapped his paws together then slowly pulled them away to reveal a bubble of honey. The digimon quickly rotated it in his paws a few times and then held it out to Hiro.

"Thanks." Hiro said as he took the bubble from the bear digimon and bit in to it. He was surprised to find the honey rather hard instead of a liquid goo, and was eating it as if it was an apple. However, the taste was definitely honey and very sweet. "This tastes amazing."

"It took lot practicing to make it edible. Your insides will definitely be feeling great in a bit from the Honey Charm properties too." Cubmon explained. "Would you like any, Shintomon?"

"I'll pass," the ninja digimon answered while casually tapping her mask. For a moment, Hiro wondered how and if his partner ate food with her mask. Was there even a face underneath?

"Once we are all done with the quick rest, we have a bit of a trek ahead of us." Anumon announced. "The point we are looking for should be on the other side of that cliff." Hiro followed the direction of the jackal's claws and nearly dropped his honey at the sight of it.

"How are we supposed to climb that?" Hiro asked. It had to be at least three times as high as the room they just finished climbing, and that was just a vine!

"It's not entirely difficult." Shintomon assured him. "I had been climbing it with ease during our confrontation with Ursamon. I do apologize for bringing it up, Cubmon." The bear digimon didn't say a word and quietly lowered his head to lick his paws clean of honey. "What I mean to say is, it has many places to grip that even a human should have no trouble if we take it at an easy pace."

"Easy for you to say," he quietly grumbled, but left the argument at that. By the looks of it, it could take days to go around and Hiro could only imagine how worried sick his mother would be if he was gone for so long. He would not be allowed to leave the house again until he was twenty. The faster they got to the point Pharaohmon was talking about, and dealt with the Arismon problem, the faster they could try to return home. Somehow.

Once everyone was rested and ready to climb, they approached the cliff and began their next climb. Rather than going single file, they climbed side by side except for Shintomon, who was far ahead thanks to her climbing skills, and Kiramon, who was circling them from below in case anyone fell. Hiro continuously shook that thought from his head and tried to ignore the dragon digimon's flapping.

"You're falling behind, human!" Anumon called. Hiro looked over to the side and realized the digimon was speaking to him when he saw the others ahead of him. At the same time, another rush of anxiety struck and Hiro wearily stared back towards his climbing area.

"It would be easier if you referred to us by our names." Hiro remarked. It would make climbing easier at least.

"I keep telling him that, but it won't sink in to his stubborn head." Kami commented from above. "I lost track of the number of times I told him to call me Kami while everyone else climbed to the surface." By the sounds of it, his friend was not getting along with her partner too well despite the events in the ruins. The digimon seemed to possess more stubbornness in his current form which easily clashed with Kami's stubbornness, and left the two with nothing to do but butt heads with each other. This made Hiro thankful that Shintomon was more focused on her mission, but still open minded to his presence, or so he hoped. It was clear that Shintomon wanted nothing more than freedom and to keep Kiramon safe from Arismon, but they were partners too, which had to count for something. Hiro knew it would take some time to figure out how important these supposed partnerships were, but in his gut he felt like they would learn soon.

The top of the cliff took some time to reach, and once they did, everyone collapsed on a grassy field. "How is there grass in the middle of a desert?" Hiro asked.

"It's how the data formed here." Kiramon answered while playfully rolling in the grass. "Sometimes a forest will have an ocean inside it or a canyon will be full of bizarre objects. Data randomly collects and forms wherever it pleases here and can last for years. Like those mushrooms over there!" New excitement emerged in the digimon's voice as she scurried over to a patch of purple mushrooms.

"It's how we find food." Shintomon added.

"The area's data has changed since I was last awake." Anumon interrupted. "I don't recognize any of this scenery, and I can't see the point anywhere." His eyes were scanning everywhere so intently that Hiro got up too and looked around to see if he would notice anything.

"What exactly does this point look like?"

"It is based on top of a tower. You could never miss it." Hiro continued to search, but apart from grass, the occasional bush, and mushrooms, there was no tower in site.

"Could it's data have changed the way everything else has?"

"No. Some data cannot fade away with time."

"What about destroyed?" Hiro suggested. This only made Anumon give a grim expression

"For the sake of the Digital World and your chance at getting home, it better not be," he answered. "I say we keep walking to see if it shows up." Anumon started walking with no sign of slowing, which left the others looking at each other questioningly.

"So what now guys? I don't think we'll be getting home by sitting around, and I am beginning to doubt if this tower is still standing." Kami remarked. "What do you think, Shintomon?"

"I think that your partner is going to get himself killed from his stubbornness," she replied rather bluntly. "However, I think we should at least search a little further. The Digital World can be full of surprises when it wants to be."

"Alright," Kami nodded. "You guys ready, then?"

Hiro, Miki, Payton, and Cubmon all nodded in confirmation. "Let me go get Kiramon," Miki quickly added and hurried off to fetch the dragon.

"Let's hope the tower will show up soon." Kami remarked. Hiro nodded in agreement, but then his friend's attention seemed to shift elsewhere. "Hey, Payton, what is Miki doing over there?" Hiro shifted his eyes towards the youngest member to find him rolling in the grass, laughing.

"I'll go check it out." Hiro casually approached the mushroom patch and noticed both Miki and Kiramon were rolling in laughter. "What are you two doing? We have to get going."

"Haha-I can't-haha-stop laughing." Miki responded. The kid was laughing so hard that his face was slowly changing colour from lack of breath. Kiramon, on the other hand, was gradually entering spasms while her laughter subsided.

"Alright, that's enough. We have to go now."

"Zen Arrows!" Hearing the sound of his digimon's attack made Hiro duck down while ninja stars shot past him and struck the mushrooms. He was about to turn and ask what that was about, but then the mushrooms started moving. Arms and legs emerged from the ground and those that were hit began pulling the stars from their caps.

"Sheesh, you call that an attack? You're no better than those two weaklings," one mushroom muttered out loud than looked up so he was looking Hiro face to face. "As for you, what kind of digimon ducks? You're no stronger than a fresh form if you can't fight!"

"I'm not a digimon."

"Oh you're not? Well, then beat it or we'll show you what a digimon is supposed to do! No one is allowed to cross through here!"

"Didn't Anumon just pass through, though?"

"He...he has our permission! It has nothing to do with those sharp looking claws or scary face," the mushroom answered quickly. "Oh forget it! You're annoying. Fungus Crusher!" Out of nowhere the mushroom began throwing tiny mushrooms at him, but then a new wave of ninja stars arrived and struck each of them mid air, where they exploded.

"Hiro, get out of there now!" Shintomon shouted as she dashed forward. Her presence sent the mushrooms cowering a few feet back, which gave Hiro a chance to get Miki onto his back while Shintomon picked up Kiramon. Neither of the two were laughing anymore and had gone stiff. "It's paralysis from laughing mushrooms. Cubmon should be able to help them." The ninja digimon than glared towards the crowd of mushrooms. "You will let us pass through once we have helped our friends," she ordered, and walked towards the others. Hiro followed after her and didn't say a word until he out Miki down and Cubmon was using his Honey Charm again.

"What are those things?"

"Those are Mushroomon." Cubmon answered. His honey created an amber mist that he covered over Miki and Kiramon. Almost instantly the pair were moving again and no longer laughing. "They are very ill-tempered digimon and like to bully those they see as weaker, but are very shy too. The only thing you have to worry about is their mushroom bombs, as you saw what they can do. They shouldn't be a problem now."

"Um...are you sure?" This time it was Payton speaking and he was pointing towards the mushroom digimon. One by one a black chain was becoming visible around the mushroomon and then the digimon transformed into treelike creatures. Once the chains vanished, the tree digimon began growling.

"Woodmon." Cubmon's tone went cold and serious as he stared at the newly digivolved digimon. "They are champion level digimon, and rather ferocious...these Woodmon are enslaved."

"Other than their tough bark, they are not strong digimon. The three of us could take them on as rookies or champions." Shintomon explained. "It would be even easier if a said jackal digimon was present too, but we'll have to make do."

"Well..." Cubmon sheepishly held his paws together with his head down. "I would be rather comfortable staying the way I am and not digivolve," he explained. "I'll still fight, but I don't want to become Ursamon."

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the growling from the Woodmon while the group was silent, but then Payton nodded. "It's okay. You don't have to digivolve if you don't want to." He gently patted his partner on the head then leaned down to whisper. "But do me a favour and kick their butts hard for picking on Miki." Cubmon nodded with a small salute.

"I will do my best!" he saluted.

"So what do we do to digivolve?" Shintomon asked. The ninja addressed the question towards Kami, who was pulling out her digivice.

"At the time Anumon digivolved, this started beeping and a light just came from it after I shouted his name," she explained. "Mine isn't doing anything right now, but it could be because Anumon isn't here."

Hiro pulled out his next, but like Kami's it wasn't making any supposed sounds. "Shintomon!" he shouted his partners name, but nothing happened. "Miki?" Miki tried with his own digivice and got the same result.

"Just great," Shintomon muttered. "Well, we cannot stand here much longer. If their roots get too settled we may become their prey and never get out of here."

"What?" Payton asked out loud, but the three digimon were charging forward. The Woodmon started stretching out their arms to grab for the digimon, but Cubmon used a strange attack that deflected all the branches back at the digimon while Shintomon launched a series of stars and Kiramon spat blue fire in all directions. The flames really seemed to be doing the trick because the digimon were cowering again.

"Go, Kiramon!" Miki cheered. The Woodmon were clumping together in fear of the fire and were then tossed into the air by a tornado of sand. Each of the Woodmon dropped to the ground as the tornado vanished so there was nothing more than a pile of Woodmon, and Anumon standing behind the pile with his foot tapping impatiently.

"What is taking you guys?" he called.

"If you hadn't noticed, we were dealing with a pile of digimon possessed by Arismon!" Shintomon shouted in irritation. "Your lousy digivolution theory doesn't work, either."

"Now you're just weary from the fight. You saw me digivolve" It looked like there was going to be a new fight about to break out so Hiro quickly ran to Shintomon to hold the digimon back. Kami was doing the same with Anumon.

"Look, the Woodmon won't be able to attack us anymore. Let's get out of here while we still can," he explained calmly.

"You're right. I am sorry for losing myself."

"Don't worry about. If you want you can lose yourself later. Just not now." It looked like they were set to go, but the pile of Woodmon looked enraged.

"Arismon forbids your departure!" one shouted.

"You are enemies and traitors to the great Arismon!"

"Long live Arismon!"

The sound of wood hitting wood echoed throughout the pile as the digimon broke apart, "Branch Drill!" Branches shot out in all directions and ensnared the four digimon before they could retaliate, and slowly energy pulsed through the branch from each of the digimon. They were being drained of their energy.

"Shintomon!" Hiro tugged at the branch draining his digimon to break the connection, but the bark was too tough. "Hang in there." Hiro was frantically looking around to think of an idea. Off to the side, it looked like Kami was trying to digivolve her partner to break the branches, but the results were the same as his and Miki's. "The digivolution isn't working for them either."

"Maybe it is their link..." Shintomon panted. "Before, there was a desire to protect each other between them like how your friend Payton stood up to Ursamon and how I wish to protect Kiramon. A partnership. If a digivice enables us to digivolve, then why else would they need to be in a human's possession?"

The partnership... Hiro allowed the words to sink in and then thought of everything else Shintomon has confined in him. They had only just met, but she already entrusted him with her wishes, and has saved him countless times since then. She was treating him as her partner the entire time, and he had ignored it. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the digivice beeping. "My turn to protect you." Hiro pulled out the digivice and watched as a light shot towards Shintomon. The digimon was consumed in the white light while the Woodmon's branches broke.

"Thank you, Hiro." Shintomon's voice echoed from within the light. Like with Anumon's transformation, Shintomon became surrounded in a sphere of white chains. "Digimon Link activate! Digivolve into champion." The light vanished and standing in Shintomon's place was a samurai. She stood a little shorter than Pharaohmon's height, and was clad in dark and crimson armor. Her mask was now replaced with half a helmet while the other side was concealed by bandages. As for weapons, his partner was now wielding a long katana. "Samuramon!" she called out and charged the Woodmon.

A few of the digimon feebly tried to stop the champion level digimon with more Branch Drill attacks, but the pieces of would were cut into wood chips by the deadly weapon. Samuramon was unstoppable. In minutes, the branches draining their comrades were non existent and the Woodmon were cowering more than ever to the point that black links were appearing. "Time for your freedom. Deity's Judgement!" Samuramon raised her katana into the air where the sun's light gathered around the weapon and she struck downwards. The light launched towards the black chains and disintegrated them while the Woodmon quickly returned to their Mushroomon forms.

"Woah..." A Mushroomon grumbled. "Sorry for calling your attacks weak. I didn't think anything would break those black links." The small digimon was rubbing the top of his purple cap similar to Cubmon's behaviour when he was first free, then sighed. "I am ashamed to call myself a digimon."

"You had no choice, Mushroomon. The sign that you weren't returned to data means you have a second chance." Samuramon explained. The sphere briefly returned and the samurai digimon reverted to her rookie form. When Shintomon was back, she looked extremely exhausted so Hiro quickly offered himself as a support so she could rest. "Thanks. I didn't have much energy left after the Woodmon drained me."

"You did amazing, Shintomon. Just make sure to take it easy now. All of you looked wiped from the Woodmon." Hiro wasn't exaggerating either. Off to one side Cubmon was slumping against Payton's legs and Kiramon was fast asleep in Miki's arms. On his other side Kami was doing her best to support her tired partner, though Anumon looked more annoyed than exhausted.

"How were you able to digivolve and it failed for us?"

Shintomon quietly laughed. "I think I understand your theory more than you do. The digivice only provides the pathway for digivolution. It is up to the connection between human and digimon to activate it." Hiro nodded in agreement. "I saw that connection back when you digivolved in the ruins" Shintomon added. "If you ever want to digivolve again, you will do best to remember that moment."

Anumon seemed to listen to the words, but the digimon gave his usual, stubborn growl. "If we ever find that tower we will not have to worry anymore. I am sure it will restore the power we need."

Hiro could hear Shintomon and Kami sighing, but there was nothing they could do about it. Some things took time to figure out and if Shintomon had been patient enough with him to understand the partnership, then he felt there was hope for Anumon too. "Well, we better move on." Hiro commented. It was enough to break the silence, and the others nodded in agreement too. "The faster we find this tower the better."

"Hold on a sec, did you say tower?" A Mushroomon asked. Hiro gave a brief nod, but was interrupted by the Mushroomon. "Is it a very tall and old tower like this?" The digimon held his hand up as far as he could without toppling over. This time only Anumon nodded.

"It is one of four towers connecting the Digital World to the human world. Do you know if it is still standing?"

The Mushroomon paused for a moment then summoned his fellow Mushroom digimon into a group huddle where they began to quickly whisper to each other. This went one for a minute before the digimon broke up again and the Mushroomon nodded. "It stands very tall and old," he said. "But it is very dangerous too." A few of the Mushroomon began shivering in fear, but they all remained in their spots while their friend spoke. "We Mushroomon were imprisoned there until the black links took over our bodies. There are many evil and powerful digimon there. It is no place for enemies of Arismon. Even the strength of the mighty Samuramon won't be enough!" The other Mushroomon were quickly nodding their heads and chanting 'yes' in agreement. "Arismon should know you are here by now because of the black links, if you hurry you may evade his forces in time." Another chant of 'yes' followed while Hiro looked to Kami and Anumon, who were both deep in thought.

"He's turned it into a base." Anumon growled out loud. "With his forces all over the place, the point will be next to impossible to reach."

Kami gave a slight nod, but she still appeared to be in as deep of a contemplation as her partner, which Hiro knew from experience that meant nothing good could come of this. "This point may be your chance to help your world and could be a lead to us figuring out how to return home. The way I see it, we might as well try or at least check the area out. Besides, you guys believed digivolving freely was impossible and we believed going to other worlds was impossible. Considering, the past hour proved both things possible, next to impossible sounds a lot more possible than you think."

On top of making nothing good come of it, Kami was making things hard to follow. Hiro had to mentally translate her explanation so it was easier to understand, and unfortunately he agreed with her. "We need to try, at least," he answered. However, it was easy for both of them to say yes to some crazy scheme as they were only responsible for themselves. Hiro looked over at Payton and Miki, but his attention was more on the former. "Payton, what do you think?"

His friend looked like he was struggling with a serious decision while Miki stood next to him with a pleading look. Of course, the kid wanted to help Kiramon out, but he was still young and Hiro wasn't sure he could grasp the severity of the situation yet. This wasn't like his video games or movies. Payton remained silent for a long time to the point Cubmon was looking at him worriedly, but he soon made his decision and looked a little weary from the responsibility. "We'll go to the tower, but you guys check it out first," he answered. "Then we will follow." Miki's objection and complaints started fairly quickly, but Payton had made his decision and the others supported it.

"Let's go then." Kami said.

"We wish you luck!" the Mushroomon cheered. "We have to find a new home now where we can hide so you are free to pass through here whenever you wish."

"You know, at the bottom of the cliff, there are holes in the ground that give you access to the ruins of my home. It's dark, but some areas have light, which should make for a suitable mushroom environment." Anumon suggested.

The Mushroomon retreated into their huddle again, but this one was for a shorter period as they split up again and jumped. "Yes!" They answered in unison. "Thank you very much! We better claim it immediately before anyone else does!" Hiro highly doubt there were other people or digimon who would want to claim the old ruins as their home, but he didn't want to ruin their excitement as they departed to make their trip down the cliff.

"I never thought I would see a day Mushroomon weren't ill tempered." Cubmon remarked.

"I never thought I would see a moment that Anumon was generous." Shintomon added.

Anumon gave a small growl while turning away. "It hasn't been my home in 600 years, those Mushroomon will get more out of it than I will. Let's go." Still supporting Shintomon, Hiro began following his friends and their tired partners in hope of finding the tower.


End file.
